March 2, 2010
We thought that it would be fun to share our ugliest photos with you all, since there have been so many great photos taken in the past few weeks during SOUNDING- Call it a line up, call it silly, or just plain ugly, here we are!
Ms. Gibbs!
Not so secret... Irene and Rudy
Deer in the headlights- Stephen!
The fearless leader- New Haircut face.
This woman isn't so into it. She's like, a famous actress or something...
Ana: Shocked and shot from above
Taili: There ya go. Tongue and all!
February 13, 2010
We’ve been immersed in technical rehearsals over the last week and a half and have made a last round of cuts to the script. The show is running about 90 minutes which feels like the right length.
The show is really starting to cohering at this point – all the elements have been incorporated: music, setting, sound, lighting, video, costumes. Its been so great (and completely necessary) to have as much time as we had with the designers together in the room.
We were also joined by Qui Nyugen this week to do fight choreography – he did an amazing job on the Walters Leda fight near the end of the show.
The cast continues to do amazing work and are growing in their roles by leaps and bounds – thanks to Jen and Elenna for all their support in this area.
We are now really focused on uncovering the rhythm of the show at this point — each day, we are still doing a mixture of scene work with full tech but getting a full run in everyday from here on out. When we finish the run each day, we all feast together on the leftover chocolate cake that Charlotte makes – we will share the yummy vegan recipe here soon —
We still have a lot to do, including puzzling out the right ending for this show, but are getting excited about getting this in front of an audience Wednesday!
February 7, 2010
Jenny & I recently had lunch with Anna Gutto, who wrote this great article about the show for the Brooklyn rail:
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2010/02/theater/ibsens-burrito-sounding-at-here
January 18, 2010
Woo hoo. We are two weeks into rehearsal and have made it about 2/3 of the way through the piece -lots to do but getting the spine of the piece into place
what an awesome cast — we have been thrilled to have Michael Pemberton join us as Walters.
Jenny’s been furiously rewriting as we work thru and the script is getting into really great shape.
we’ve begun weaving in some sound by Jane Shaw and lots of video by Tal Yarden with more integration of all these elements to come in the upcoming week –
Made some exciting changes to the 3rd song with Kamala and Okwui to express more of Leda’s emotional state.
we are so grateful to have a rehearsal space two blocks from HERE – donated so generously by our neighbors, Trinity Real Estate. It is about the size of our theatre and enables us to work spatially like we would in the real theatre – this will make the transition into the theatre a lot easier —
look for regular posts on dramaturgy for the piece from Elenna Mosoff and rehearsal tales from Jen Kraus —
December 21, 2009
Below is a rough groundplan for the next incarnation of SOUNDING in HERE’s Mainstage in February. We’re working in a diagonal seating arrangement with sets designed by Nick Vaughan.
December 21, 2009
Tal, Jenny, Okwui and I (and Tal’s 5 3/4 year old son, Ivo) drove to Pennsylvania Friday night to finish shooting – We shot Okwui in a wonderful heated swimming pool and Okwui with the beautiful baby of the house, Othello.
We got fantastic footage and are so so grateful to Jody, Joe and Penny for letting us shoot in their beautiful country home.
Driving back Saturday afternoon was a little touch and go but we made it before the perfect storm really bombarded us.
December 21, 2009
So we just completed a 4 day workshop of Leda’s first song/swim and the Stranger’s return. It was wonderful to finally have the whole design team – Tal, Jane, Rie, Liz and Nick – all working together in the room with Okwui. We were joined by Emily Rea, our awesome new SM, Jane her ASM and my AD Jen Kraus. Lots of smart folks!
The big discovery was that we finally found the visual and auditory language for the representation of the Stranger —played on video by Todd D’amour — how to represent him in the past memories and present infiltrations.
It was also really exciting to hear from other HERE resident artists and audiences what they saw and experienced from the showing.
I can’t wait to start full rehearsals on January 4.
Check out some pics below.
December 7, 2009
Its been ages since we have posted anything but there are lots of exciting developments.
Upcoming Work-in-Progress Showing
We are going into rehearsal next week to look at the first song swim and the Stranger’s return with Okwui (Leda), Tal (video) and Jane Shaw (our new sound designer). We will show what we develop on Thursday December 17 at 7pm at HERE – its free and there will be free wine!
Production Staff
We are thrilled to have some fantastic new collaborators on the project – Nick Vaughan on sets, Rie Ono on lights, Liz Bourgeois on costumes, Jane Shaw on sound, Emily Rea as stage manager, Jennifer Kraus as assistant director.
Script Development
Jenny is working on rewrites. She and I continue to meet frequently for dramaturgical sessions to refine and reshape the script. We’re getting really excited about how things are coming along.
September 7, 2009
Musings
I am freshly returned from Greece, where as Scott (who plays Walters) suggested, I did some much-needed beach and sea research for the show!
Actually, I did think a lot about the project over my holiday – looking at and swimming in the ocean – the water represents such a significant force in Leda’s life and is so formative to her emotional well-being in the play.
I am really struggling with the balance between naturalism and stylization in the show and trying to puzzle my way through the fusion of the many disparate elements – music, video, movement, but with text very much in the driver’s seat– to create a cohesive visceral work. The texture of the project feels different from a lot of my other projects but I am eager to find my way into it.
Dramaturgy and Rewrites
Jenny and I got to do a short post-mortem over dinner right after the August workshop, but are looking forward to further conversations with each other and the design staff about how to strengthen the project.
Shooting coming up on Jones Beach and Lower East Side
Tal, Jenny and I will meet in the next couple of weeks to further conceptualize the video and plan our upcoming shoot with Okwui and Todd at the end of this month. We plan to create some new footage showing the everyday past life of Leda and the Stranger as well as reshoots of a bunch of beach and water stuff.
Other design developments
We plan to interview and hire the lighting and costume designers over the next couple of weeks and have a design meeting at the end of the month. I can’t wait to see the next iteration of the set that David is working on.
August 25, 2009
This afternoon, we stumbled through this epic show in about 1 hour 50 minutes (the show needs to be 90 minutes but we will get there) – kudos and thanks to our phenomenal cast and design staff for tackling this piece so gamely in such a condensed period – we are so grateful for your talent and enthusiasm –
Jenny and I had a great dinner talking about what we found and what we were still missing- i foresee edits and changes to the different storylines
I can’t wait to get back into rehearsal on this in December! Thanks all!
SOUNDING 